New polymerization method for highly efficient materials in organic electronics

过去十年见证了有机电子学的重大进步。低成本制造工艺、轻量化和机械灵活性等独特功能应该会带来廉价且高效的印刷设备，用于可再生能源生产（太阳能电池）或电子设备（晶体管）。然而，这一重要研究领域的出现与可靠聚合方法（即 Stille、Suzuki、Heck 等）的可用性密切相关，以提供明确且可重复的聚合物半导体。然而，这些最先进的方法通常涉及有机金属试剂，其产生金属废物和/或需要额外的合成步骤。为了解决这些问题，更环保、更便宜的合成程序将是一笔巨大的财富。沿着这些思路，我们最近开发了一种称为直接杂芳基化的新聚合方法。我们成功获得了结构明确、无锡、高分子量（通过经典方法无法获得）的噻吩并[3,4-c]吡咯-4,6-二酮（TPD）基共聚物，这是塑料太阳能电池和场效应晶体管最重要的材料之一。在这些初步有希望的结果之后，我们希望进一步探索已知和新型 TPD 基共聚物的合成，但我们也打算研究和优化各种其他半导体聚合物的合成。 还将进行机理研究，以更好地理解和控制这种新聚合方法的选择性。大多数聚合物将在各种类型的太阳能电池和晶体管中进行测试，最有前途的聚合物将由我们的工业合作伙伴大规模生产。总体而言，该项目应带来高度创新和独特的聚合方法，从而有助于塑料电子产品的实施。

The last ten years have witnessed significant advances in organic electronics. Unique features such as low-cost manufacturing processes, lightweight, and mechanical flexibility should lead to cheap and efficient printed devices for renewable energy production (solar cells) or electronic devices (transistors). However, the emergence of this important research field is strongly linked to the availability of reliable polymerization methods (i.e. Stille, Suzuki, Heck, etc.) to afford well-defined and reproducible polymeric semiconductors. However, these state-of-the-art methods generally involve organometallic reagents which create metal waste and/or require extra synthetic steps. To solve these problems, greener and cheaper synthetic procedures would be a great asset. Along these lines, we recently developed a new polymerization method called direct heteroarylation. We successfully obtained well-defined, tin-free, and high molecular weight (not attainable with classical procedures) thieno[3,4-c]pyrrole-4,6-dione (TPD)-based copolymers which are among the most important materials for plastic solar cells and field-effect transistors. Following these first promising results, we want to further explore the synthesis of known and new TPD-based copolymers but we also intend to investigate and optimize the synthesis of various other semiconducting polymers. Mechanistic studies will also be performed to better understand and control the selectivity of this new polymerization method. Most polymers will be tested in various types of solar cells and transistors and the most promising ones will be produced on a larger scale by our industrial partner. Overall, this project should lead to highly innovative and unique polymerization methods that should contribute to the implementation of plastic electronics.